Four Things To Watch In BU-BC Beanpot Championship Bout

It’s always a big matchup when archrivals Boston College and Boston University collide.

But it will be an even bigger tilt Monday night with a Dunkin’ Beanpot title at stake.

The Eagles and Terriers will go head-to-head for the coveted prize at TD Garden with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. ET. Northeastern and Harvard will precede the championship bout in the third-place game, which is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The Huskies taking on the Crimson can be seen on NESN 360 while BC-BU will be televised on NESN.

The eyes of the college hockey world will be on the Beanpot once again with those matchups and here are four things to watch from the championship game of the tournament:

Matchup Everyone (expect Northeastern and Harvard fans) Wanted
There’s no denying that BC knocking off two-time defending Beanpot champion Northeastern and BU routing Harvard resulted in a more anticipated final. The Eagles and Terriers are two heavyweights again this season with BC ranked No. 1 in the country and BU ranked in the top 10. That could change Monday, though, due to the Terriers’ overtime loss to Merrimack on Friday.

BC and BU obviously have plenty of history in their bitter rivalry and have already faced one another twice this season. The Eagles had their way with the Terriers just over two weeks ago when BC swept the home-and-home series by an aggregate score of 8-2.

It’s the first time BC and BU have squared off in the Beanpot final since 2016, which coincidently enough was the last time the Eagles won the tournament. BU is in search of its first Beanpot title since 2022 and will try to erase the memories of last year’s overtime defeat in the final.

Will Offense Carry The Night Again?
The Eagles and Terriers certainly aren’t lacking in offensive firepower and they put it on display in the semifinals. The two sides combined for an eye-popping 15 goals and it wasn’t just one or two players carrying the scoring load. The Eagles had eight different goal-scorers against Northeastern while the Terriers showed their offensive might with a five-goal second period against Harvard.

BU enters the contest as the third-highest scoring team in the nation at 3.81 goals per game while BC isn’t far behind, coming in at seventh in the country at 3.54 goals per game. So, there figures to be a good amount of pucks finding twine in the matchup.

MVP Watch
BC’s Ryan Leonard and BU’s Cole Hutson enter the title showdown as the favorites to win Beanpot MVP. Leonard, the eighth overall pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2023 NHL Draft, put up one goal and two assists in the semifinals while Hutson turned in a four-point night off of two goals and two assists. Hutson, who could be teammates with Leonard as he was a second-round pick by the Capitals in 2024, is only a freshman and joked after beating Harvard that he wants to get bragging rights over his brother, Lane, and do something his brother didn’t do during his time with the Terriers and win the Beanpot.

Another strong showing from BU’s Devin Kaplan — he scored two goals in the semifinal round — could help him capture the individual hardware while big performances from Teddy Stiga or Gabe Perreault could vault them to MVP honors. Don’t forget about the goalies, either.

Quick Rise To Stardom
Speaking of goaltenders, it’s been quite the journey for BU netminder Mikhail Yegorov. Yegorov joined the Terriers from the USHL just before the start of the spring semester and BU head coach Jay Pandolfo threw him right into the action. The results have been good for Yegorov, too. He posted a .940 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average in his first four collegiate starts. The Beanpot will be a massive stage for Yegorov, a 2024 second-round pick by the New Jersey Devils, to try to shine in the infancy of his college career.

NESN Dunkin’ Beanpot coverage is presented by Dunkin’.